The present invention relates to heel protectors, and more particularly to protectors adapted for use with all sizes of men's and women's shoes, without exhibiting the tendency to slip off.
A variety of heel protectors are well-known in the art, which have employed numerous shapes and structural features in order to provide proper fit and securement to the shoes of the wearer. Major problems that have been encountered with the use of these devices has been their tendency to slip out of position in use, or in the alternative, to damage the shoe structure by their tenacious attachment thereto. Thus, the art is replete with a variety of heel protector configurations, and those protectors disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,894,339 to Shapiro, 3,217,430 to Novick and 3,861,399 to Huff are cited as exemplary thereof. Furthermore, Australian Pat. No. 4687/26 to Bland and French Pat. No. 2,338,664 to Lamotte, also illustrate the types of devices known and employed in the prior art.
All of the foregoing constructions suffer from one or more defects. Thus, the devices disclosed in the French patent, Australian patent, and U.S. patents to Novick, Huff and Shapiro, all appear to rely on specific configurations of their products to account for variations in shoe size and configuration. The disadvantage in this type of construction is clear, as the wearer must possess a variety of these devices configured to the shoes owned.
Further, the devices disclosed in Novick, the French patent, and to a lesser extent the device disclosed in Bland, all rely upon the securement of the protector by encirclement of the heel of the shoe. This type of securement, however, is subject to failure in the instance where extensive abrasion causes the heel protector to shift position along the heel, and to overcome the frictional resistance imposed by the encircling member.
Finally, those devices suggesting a variety of shapes nonetheless rely upon the close fit of the device to the shoe in question. Even the Australian patent to Bland, which employs a strap that extends over the instep of the wearer, nonetheless requires that the remainder of the protector be of close resemblance in size and shape to the wearer's shoe.
None of the prior art appears to have addressed the problem of developing a heel protector which may maintain a general configuration adaptable to all shapes and sizes of shoes, and which possesses a securement means which effectively prevents disengagement of the protector due to the application of excessive frictional forces during use.